Haul Out The Holly

On Saturday, we put up the decorations and our tree! We went downtown for a few errands, then to storage for the stuff, then out to lunch, then HOME. That was enough running around for us!







Our lovely 9.5" tree

Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

A new one from Erik's Mom for us

Surfer Santa in honor of Erik

Adirondack Chair from our hometown

Cute wine glass for one of my hobbies :-)

Can you believe I've had this ornament since 1st grade? I remember buying it at a school fair.

Southern Santa from North Carolina - I love buying ornaments from places we visit!

My favorite from 2010. Santa & Rudolph sitting on the Empire State Building (as they help to build it)

December is so much fun with parties, dinners, happy hours, etc. I have a work party this week, two next week, then Erik's the following week! We are leaving for Dec 23rd to go back to CT for the holidays!

Mickey Cookies & Decorating

On Friday night, I did some errands & cookie making! Since that wonderful cookie press would not work, I decided to use my Mickey cookie cutters. The cookies came out so yummy. Evie also sat patiently while I worked to catch any dough that would drop!

Mickey's Gloved Hand. There is also a star cookie cutter that goes with this set.


I also went down to Joann Fabrics for decorations, stopped at Bath & Body Works, and Old Navy. I got such good deals. Everything at JoAnn's was 60% off. At BBW, I got these three candles for $13 TOTAL due to the sale and a coupon! Old Navy also had a big sale PLUS they sent me a ton of coupons to use.



It was a low key Friday!

GLEE

Glee started off slow for me this season but has been KILLING it the past few weeks. First Gwyneth Paltrow -love, Teenage Dream, Sectionals, Dog Days are Over & GLEE WEDDING! I love that main Warbler guy.




I thought this was so cute that they sang this for Kurt. Also what a great song!!

Cookie Press FAIL

A few months ago, I got a cookie press. I thought this thing would be super easy to use. I was WRONG. I could not get this thing to work. I even went on YouTube and watched videos of how to work this. It seems very simple. I cannot get any cookie to come out. I might try again.

One of the issues I have is that the disc that pushes the dough, has a slit in it. Is that what it is supposed to look like?? The metal pusher keeps pushing right through the disc so its just slipping thru the dough & not pushing anything! GRRRR.

Well, I made some yummy dough. I used the Real Simple Sugar Cookie recipe and it came out GREAT. I think I may just roll out this dough & use my new Mickey cookie cutters that I got in DisneyLand.




Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for shaping the cookies
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated (the dough will be stiff). Shape into a disk and (unless otherwise specified in an individual recipe) refrigerate, wrapped, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
4. Make cookies according to directions in the 10 Ideas For Sugar Cookie Dough collection. Alternately, make cutout cookies by doing the following: Heat oven to 350° F. On a floured surface, roll out each disk ¼ inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on parchment-lined baking sheets; refrigerate until firm. Sprinkle with decorating sugar, if using, and bake until just beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
5. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Anyone have any tips on using this cookie press? I think the solution is to buy an electric one! haha

Wine Cork Wreath

I saw this CUTE craft today - a wine cork wreath. These wreaths go for approx $75 online but I think they must be easy to make. Get a foam wreath round, some pins, & hot glue and I think you should be good to go.


In fact, I found directions on how to make this online. You can find them, HERE. As for the bow, that looks like the difficult part & something I'd buy at a store. :-)

Accident, UPdate

I think I should start a blog solely about everything we see outside our window. The Neighborhood Accident Blotter. Ha. Anyway, the accident yesterday was nuts. I heard the Red Car hit the Black Car in the street and saw the red car slide thru the sidewalk, into the tree, and the parked black car.

Here is video a few mins after it all went down:



The cops & everyone else showed up, of course. Turns out 3 out of the 4 guys in the black car that was hit got ARRESTED!! I think they had drugs on them or something. The firefighters were trying to pry the hood of the car up so that they could turn the horn off. This woman also got the chainsaw out to start cutting up the tree. haha



Guys getting put in the cop car:


Finally, the clean-up. You can hear me on the phone talking to my co-worker about it. hah



The funniest part of this is that if I didn't work from home, I would have NO clue this happened. It was cleaned up and someone else was in that parking spot an hour later. It makes me wonder what goes on when we are not home!

NY Tree Lighting

Did anyone watch the Rockefellar Tree Lighting the other night? We did. I was totally scared by these two living dolls that were singing. They are creepy! haha. Apparently, the little one is only 10 yr old and was on 'America's Got Talent' and the taller one is a star in the UK. I guess they are "talented" but they sound super weird to me!

Always Something

After being off from work on Monday to drive back from LB, I worked from home on Tuesday AND today. We worked from home on Tues as a team but I stayed home today due to the painters coming & routine inspection of the apartment building. Well, I saw a CRAZY car accident outside the window of our house. I took pics & video and will post some soon. Here is one:






















Basically, this red car was going the wrong way on the main street, tried to make a right hand turn on to the side street (that it is facing in this photo), went over the sidewalk, hit a small tree and then the parked car. Unreal. I heard it happening and saw him slam into the parked car. It was really crazy!!

This is the most active corner I've ever lived on!

Tempeh Stir Fry

Last night, I made a really good dinner. I was inspired by a recipe on FANNEtasticFood.com where Anne made a stirfry for her leftovers.

Here's how I made it:

• 1 small bok choy
• About 4-5 mushrooms
• A red pepper
• A yellow pepper
• Tempeh
• Brown Rice

Mixed all of the veggies in a pan. Fried the tempeh in a separate pan, then mixed it all together.

I put a little bit of Teriyaki sauce on the veggie mix in the pan. After mixing all of the veggies together, I placed it on top of brown rice. Then, a little bit of soy sauce once I mixed everything with the rice.

After last week's food & drink gluttony, I want to detox a little bit with no drinking & lots of veggies! Tempeh is so good, and a great alternative to meat. I am not really a tofu fan due to the texture but tempeh has the same healthy attributes with a better consistency. You can bake it, fry it, etc.

Did you know?

So to wrap up the vacation week, here are some more tidbits. One HUGE thing I didn't know about the coast of Southern California is that we have oil rigs in the ocean digging for oil. They are not only in the water but scattered throughout So Cal. It was very strange to see. We asked each other if we were in Iraq. haha.

Here is an oil rig that is only one block from downtown Huntington Beach. Just fenced off so you can't really see it.

This cute little island off the coast of Long Beach houses oil rigs, as well.

Look at Evie sitting on the porch. She LOVED having a house to run around in. It really has us thinking that a bigger place would make her a little more calm.

We had a side/back yard that was fenced in which was wonderful. But, guess what, Evie didn't really like it! She is not used to being out by herself and when I put her outside, she stood by the door asking to come in! What a baby.

I really love southern CA. I love the weather down there. They don't get the fog that we do and they have warmth & sunshine!! They do also have to worry about mud slides & fires though. I loved Long Beach because it was suburban but a short drive from LA. I think that is what I am yearning for - to live close enough to a city but far enough out to have space & quiet. I've been saying that for a little while now....

Anyway, we had a really great time. I am so excited that we will be home in CT in only 3 weeks!!

Queen Mary

On Sunday, our last day on vacation, we went to the Queen Mary ship for a champagne brunch.

The Queen Mary was an actual cruise ship from the 30's to the early 60's. This ship even went to battle in WWII. The Queen Mary was once the elitest way to travel & celebrities and royals even traveled on this ship. It has since been renovated to be a hotel & house multiple restaurants

There was a HUGE buffet in a large banquet room. I felt like we were on the Titanic. haha. They literally had everything you could imagine from breakfast omelet stations to pasta table to mexican feasts.



Here is my first plate - stir fry rice, a veggie dumpling, ahi tuna, & cheese and crackers.

Here is Erik's - Pancakes, egges, hashbrowns, & a croissant. Very different!

The Luna Guys

After brunch, we walked around the ship. It is huge!

View of Long Beach from the ship

The deck. See the lifeboats hanging in the upper right of the photo?



Lounging on the deck

Photo through the port hole

After Queen Mary, we went back to the house to relax & watch football. We were a little nervous about how Evie would be with the family but she was great. She wasn't scared or anything. She wanted to play with everyone & even stayed up late with Erik's dad to rest on the couch. She does love her Uncle Jaime, too!



But snuggled with Daddy to take a nap.

After watching football all afternoon, we headed to Gallagher's for a little bit. It is a local Irish pub in the neighborhood. We came home around 8 and finished off vacation with a bottle of Alpha Omega wine.



So delish!

On Sunday night, we started to pack up and get ready to leave on Monday morning. The Luna's had a flight in the early afternoon and we were driving back. It was really a great vacation. I loved that we picked a new place to visit and were able to explore with family. This allowed everyone to see a new place and do something different.

Huntington Beach

On Saturday, we went out to lunch in Long Beach to the Belmont Brewing Company. They had a lot of different beers on tap that we all tried.

They had a strawberry ale that was really good!

I had the Santa Fe chicken sandwich which was so good.


Erik had the fish & chips which were also delish.

The restaurant was right on the water so we had a beautiful view.

After lunch, we took a stroll down the pier in Long Beach. It was chilly out!

The Luna's

Me, Erik's Mom & Erik

Me & Erik

It is so pretty here!

After lunch, we decided to take a drive down Pacific Coast Highway(PCH) to Huntington Beach. We arrived around 3:30 and the sun was already starting to set.







Look who we found! Duke. We went to Duke's when we were in Hawaii back in 2005.




After watching the sunset, we headed home. It was great to see more of the CA coast!